Last February, seismologists from the University of California, Berkeley developed an app called MyShake. The application allows anyone to monitor seismic activities from the convenience of a cell phone. MyShake monitors seismic activity by screening potential earthquakes or alerting the user when one is underway. With more than 200,000 downloads,…
Zipline International Inc. is a startup that specializes in building drones that serve as delivery service providers. Zipline’s drones deliver medical supplies to hospitals and clinics located in secluded areas that aren’t accessible by land. Even though there are several companies in the drone delivery service industry, Zipline intends to…
Dollar stores are an extremely successful business model, they keep expanding to every strip mall in the US. The biggest dollar store companies had sales of approximately $40 billion in 2015. They are the “go-to” place to buy knick knacks and random items. Great news! Now you are be able…
For a company’s activities to meet the requirement to be considered qualified research activities (QRAs) it has to fulfill the “IRS Four-Part Test”. The “IRS Four-Part Test” has four requisites: New or Improved Business Component: The QRAs must result in a new or improved level of function, performance, reliability or…
Nowadays, there is no need to be a large pharmaceutical or aerospace company with heavy R&D activity to claim the R&D Tax Credit. Recent regulations have eased the qualification process, allowing startups to immediately benefit from the valuable tax incentive. Under the PATH Act (Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act),…
Startups Rejoice! R&D credits now offset payroll taxes: Historically, startups that were not paying federal income taxes could claim R&D Tax Credits, but would need to carry them forward on their corporate and/or shareholder returns until they could offset their income tax liabilities (aka until they were profitable in the…
The IRS defines Qualified Research Expenses (QREs) as the sum of “in-house research expenses” and “contract research expenses”. Those in-house research expenses include Wages: Taxable or subject to self-employment tax of individuals performing, directly supervising or supporting the qualified research. Supplies: Amount paid or incurred for materials used in the…
To qualify for the R&D Tax Credit an activity must meet all four criteria of the “Four-Part Test”. The IRS Four-Part Test requires: a new or improved business component (product, process, technique, invention, formula or software), the business component to be technological in nature, some kind of elimination of uncertainty,…